Southport Power Station
1894 Southport Corporation commissioned a power station in Russell Road, Southport; it had capacity of 675kW. It contained three Mather and Platt dynamos driven by ropes from Browett-Lindley horizontal engines with an aggregate capacity of 250 HP.
1895 and 1896 two Musgrave-Ferranti direct-driven sets of 250 HP each were added followed by a 500 HP set in 1897. These generated at 2000 Volts and were used to power lighting in the town.
c.1898 Birkdale District Electric Supply Company Limited built a power station in Grantham Road, Birkdale.
1900-34 Southport Corporation Tramways operated a tramway service in Southport supplied with electric current by the Southport and Birkdale power stations.
1900 the first DC generating set of 200 kW for the tramway system was added at the Southport station using the existing boiler capacity.
1911 Birkdale Urban District was incorporated into the borough of Southport, after which Birkdale power station was operated by Southport Corporation.
The generating station at Southport was extended with new plant as demand for electricity grew.
By 1923 the plant at Southport comprised boilers delivering 57,000 lb/h (7.2 kg/s) of steam to 2 × 3,000 kW steam turbo-alternator (alternating current, AC). The plant at Birkdale comprised boilers delivering 20,600 lb/h (26.0 kg/s) of steam to one 350 kW reciprocating engine driving direct current (DC) generator and three 110 kW reciprocating engines driving direct current (DC) generators. There was also a 90 kW oil fuelled engine
1925–26 A legal case was heard concerning certain clauses in agreements between the Southport Corporation and the Birkdale Electric Company regarding electricity supplies.
1928 Selected under the North-West England and North Wales Electricity Scheme, in the establishment of the National Grid; Southport power station was connected to an electricity grid ring which included the power stations at Ribble (Lancaster), Lister Drive (Liverpool), Warrington and Westwood (Wigan); this was one of three electricity rings in the North West.
1946 Southport power station carried maximum output load of 11.124 MW. Birkdale power station used steam power but also had oil engines; its maximum load was 1.052 MW.
1948 After nationalisation, the Southport electricity undertaking was abolished, ownership of Southport and Birkdale power stations were vested in the British Electricity Authority.
1954 the plant at Birkdale comprised a single 500 kW Fullagar diesel-English Electric set, generating 480 V DC
By 1954 the plant at Southport comprised 2 × Vickers-Spearing 43,000 lb/h (5.4 kg/s) boilers, 1 × Vickers-Spearing 48,000 lb/h (6.05 kg/s) boiler and 1 × Yarrow 85,000 lb/h (10.71 kg/s) oil-fired boiler (commissioned October 1954). Steam was supplied to a 7.7 MW Brush Ljungstrom turbo-alternator, two 3.85 MW Brush Ljungstrom turbo-alternators and a 1.85 MW Brush Ljungstrom turbo-alternator. The total installed capacity was 17.25 MW, 6.6 kV.
Late 1960s the Birkdale and Southport power stations closed